This was my first attempt at making a basket from bread.
I think the final result isn’t bad for a first run. The next one will be better!
I had to re-roll the dough and start again a few times and I was concerned that the bread would turn out tough, but fortunately it was not.
For my first three attempts, I tried to weave the dough directly onto the form I was using.
It was not working out.
Here’s the easiest way I found to weave a basket of bread dough.
Start with a full recipe of my Golden Shabbat Challah. This project takes more dough than I expected.
Choose an oven-safe bowl or to use as your form. I used a soufflé dish, but you can use a bowl made of stainless steel or oven-safe ceramic. I found that using something with a flat bottom made for a basket that would sit up properly. Turn your form upside down and measure up one side, across the top, and down the other side. 12 inches to 14 inches is a good size.
Use a rolling pin to roll your dough out into a large rectangle. Then use a pizza cutter or a sharp knife to cut strips, about ½ inch wide. (I have this very cool rolling cutter that makes short work of the job.) Make sure your strips are longer than your overall measurement.
Try not to stretch your dough strips while you work.
Lay out a large sheet of parchment paper on your countertop. Place one strip of dough, vertically down the center.
Take a second strip of dough and lay it horizontally across the middle of the first strip.
Take a third strip and lay it vertically to the right of your first vertical strip, leaving a bit of space for expansion between them. For this second vertical strip, you want to to go under the horizontal strip.
Take the next strip and lay it horizontally, just above your first horizontal strip. Go under the first vertical strip and over the second one. The next strip is again a vertical one, placed to the left of the first strip. Weave it in, alternating between under and over.
Continue to work with each strip, working from the center out in both directions, alternating the over and under pattern.
And from here, I got so into what I was doing that I forgot to take more pictures! But I think you’ll be able to follow…
First, spray the dish or bowl that you’re using as a form, with pan release. Then set it directly in the middle of the weave.
Take a flat baking sheet, cover it with parchment, and carefully place it over the top of the bowl. Then, with one hand on top of the baking sheet and the other hand carefully slipped under the bowl on and the dough-covered paper, twist your hands to invert the whole thing.
You now have the bowl, dough side up, sitting properly on the baking sheet. Gently press the woven strips to fit the whole thing to your form and trim away the excess. Now you have your basket.
I wasn’t sure if the dough would hold its shape against the form as it baked, so I covered the whole thing with a sheet of aluminum foil, again sprayed with pan release, and fitted it against the basket.
Measure the circumference of the form and then roll out two thin strips of the remaining dough to length, plus a little more. Twist the two strips together. Measure this twisted rope and trim it to the proper length.
Connect the two ends together to form a ring. This will ensure that the curve of your handle is correct. Place the ring on a second parchment-covered baking sheet.
Separate the remaining dough into equal parts. (Mine weighed 65 grams each.) Roll each one into a rope long enough to twist into a knot. Place this dough knots on the baking sheet with the ring, leaving room between them for expansion.
Make an egg wash by using a fork to beat one egg with a splash of water. Brush the ring and the knots with the egg wash. We’ll be brushing some on the basket a little later.
In an oven that’s been preheated to 350º, slide the two pans on each of two racks, set as much toward the center of the oven as possible. Set a timer for 15 minutes.
When the 15 minutes are up, remove the pan with the foil-covered basket from the oven. Discard the foil and brush the partially baked dough with the egg wash.
Return it to the oven, rotating the pans top to bottom. Set a timer for another 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, your challah knots and ring should be baked. Take that pan out of the oven to cool.
You’ll probably need to bake the basket another 5 minutes or so to get it golden all over. When it’s done, remove it from the oven. After 10 minutes or so you can transfer the knots, the ring, and the basket still on its form to a cooling rack.
When it’s completely cool, turn your basket over and run a blunt knife around the top to release it from the mold. The mold should now slip off easily.
Cut the ring to size to make the handle. Eat the rest. Using two toothpicks or a broken skewer, connect the handle to the basket. Fill the basket with your challah knots.
